Sleeping Beauty
by countingsheep
Summary: Turning sixteen should be the best day of your life, right? Not when revenge takes a toll on you. Oneshot.


**A/N: My first story in a year! (: Anyway, I wrote this at like, two in the morning, so it's a little rushed. This idea came to me last night when I was looking through movies to watch, and I found all my old Disney ones. A modern take on Sleeping Beauty, if you want to see it that way. Please don't be too harsh on me; I'm a little rusty!**

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Sleeping Beauty

Tess Tyler is always used to getting what she wants, and it never seems to go unnoticed.

So when her sixteenth birthday rolls around, no one is surprised when they receive their over-the-top invitation, clad in pink paper and sparkly glitter.

The kids at school have no intention of going, except for the one exception, in tiny letters at the bottom, the words saying, "Special guests: Connect 3!"

But they think she needs to get what she deserves, so they all get together and make a plan to ruin her birthday.

Tess, at the time, had no clue what was going on. She was just happy when she would pass by people in the hallways and have them smile at her, or say, "Happy early Birthday, Tess!"

On that fateful Friday night, she had cleaned and cleared out her whole mansion of a house to make it enjoyable for them. Her mother was off to Chicago to do a press conference; Tess had the house to herself, with no rules for the party.

When people started to arrive around seven, they let themselves in as she prepared for her grand entrance. She was to be carried in on a throne by four buff guys she hired, but a couple hours before it started, someone had snuck back there and removed a piece of wood from it, so when she got on it, it would fall.

Well, the lights dimmed and a spotlight came on. Everyone turned and looked- just in time to see Tess fly down on her face. Everyone began laughing, and with cherry red cheeks, she stood up and stomped upstairs. She had hidden Connect 3 up there earlier to make them a surprise. Jason was playing around on his guitar, Shane was hooking up the microphones, and Nate was sitting on the bed, perfectly relaxed.

Tess ran by into the bathroom and quickly tried to stop her tears from falling. She knew she should just get over it, but with everyone's laughter roaring and roaring louder, she couldn't help but blush. She fixed her makeup, took a deep breath, and preceded to head back down the stairs.

Everyone was making a mess with all of her family's expensive furniture. They were throwing vases, making out on the couches, and pulling the TV's away from their stand to another room. Her mouth gaped open in shock, but she didn't make a move to stop anything. As long as they were having a good time, she was accepted, right?

She headed outside to where people were pushing each other in the pool. She didn't really mind it, until someone snatched her up from behind and threw her in, but not without being noticed by everyone inside. She let out a blood-curdling scream as she hit the water. Her dress floated up all around her and she tried to pat it down as she struggled to stay afloat. She wasn't the best swimmer, especially with all the weight of her dress, jewelry, and hair holding her down. Everybody was pointing at her and laughing. She kept screaming, hoping someone would dive in to save her. From upstairs, Nate, who had been amusedly watching the entire group of party-goers act like fools out the window, rushed downstairs and to the pool.

A huge group of guys had surrounded her and were shouting at her to take her dress off. Her arms kept flailing up and down, along with her bobbing head.

Nate had had enough of it. He shouted, "Move!" as he waded into the water, past the guys, and over to Tess, who was obviously water logged. He grabbed her limp body and led her out. He sat her on a chair, then turned around.

"Come on, dude! We were all just having fun!" one of the guys said.

"It wasn't fun for her," he said in a heated voice.

"Psh, whatever," they said and left to go back inside.

When he whirled back around, Tess was gone. He soon noted that the towel was too. He sighed, looking around for her.

As Tess snuck back into the house, someone thrust a cup in front of her face. She politely told them no thanks, but they kept insisting, so she took it and drenched it down. With a small smile, she walked back upstairs to change.

After thirty minutes, she had thrown her soggy dress into the dryer and exchanged it for a pretty, strapless blue one. She had redone her hair, washed the mascara off her cheeks, and applied her makeup once again.

Going down the steps, she bumped into Nate and swiftly said sorry.

He stared at her for a minute, then wrapped his arms around her in a big bear hug.

"Tess, I haven't talked to you since last summer, and I don't want to just be talking to you because of this!"

"Nate, it's okay, seriously."

"No, it's not. Tess, they're embarrassing you on purpose. They're ruining your house!"

He tried to tell her. He kept begging that she kick them out, but she, being her stubborn self, didn't listen. She just continued on downstairs again.

When she saw her tv screen, her hands flew to her mouth. There was a picture of her, soaking wet, mascara dripping from her blood-shot eyes, her hair looking like a peacock, and her dress a big poofy mess.

Everyone was seeing it, and upon entering, a single spotlight had shone on her. Her eyes widened while she tried to smile. But then, everyone's attention had been brought to the stage, where Connect 3 tore through the banner. The spotlight had drifted to them.

Tess had just become another face in the crowd.

Everyone was really getting into the music and Connect 3 worked off of their energy. That was, until, they lifted Tess up and began crowd-surfing her.

At first, it was actually fun for her. She thought they finally, just maybe liked her.

But then they started to get rough. They were bouncing her up and down, and every time she got thrown to a guy, they felt her up. She tried to get them to put her down, but with the music so loud, her voice was lost in the nonsense.

Nate was keeping a watchful eye on her. If they dropped her, he was gonna go off on them.

"Well fine, since you want down you whiney little bitch, then get down!" someone screamed in her ear. She shivered. That person dropped her, flat on her back.

Nate had been looking down at his fingers strumming the chords to the song and didn't notice Tess on the ground. His eyes shot up and scanned the room almost instantly, because he had that feeling that something was wrong. He was trying his best to be cheerful, but he just couldn't. Not for these people that were hurting _his _Tess.

She made a hole in the crowd of excited faces, but was easily gobbled back up by dancing feet. As tears began to fall, she realized she needed to get away, but wondered how. Her back was killing her. She slowly crawled out to the front yard and sat under a tree, with her knees drawn to her chest and her head lying on them.

A mischievous smirk grew on the face of a boy inside. "Bitch," he murmured, feeling around for the light switches. In an instant, he flipped the switch titled 'Sprinkler' and the water rose out of the ground, spraying Tess directly in the face.

She stood up in a timing of about two seconds and started cursing. She clicked and clacked toward the house in her heels, just to find that he had locked the doors. She began pounding on them, demanding someone let her in.

"Aw, is little Tess sad because she didn't get what she wanted? Too bad!" He stuck his tongue out and went back to the concert.

Inside, Nate kept looking and looking, but couldn't seem to spot Tess. He stopped playing his guitar and grabbed his microphone.

"Tess?" he asked the soul-less room.

Everyone giggled and turned to the windows, where they saw Tess with a dejected look on her face.

"How can you people do this to her? She invited you into her home and tried to treat you with respect, when all you needed was a pile of crap thrown in your faces!" You could almost see the steam coming out of Nate's ears. Tess may not be able to stand up for herself, but he'd be damned to let them get away with it.

People started shouting random bad things about Tess. Nate struggled to follow it, then gave up and decided he was through with it.

Outside, Tess sighed, just deciding to let the sprinklers engulf her. Acting like a child, she began to dance around, but that just brought on a flood of memories.

_Her and Nate, at seven years old, running through the sprinklers with a wide grin on their faces, not having a care in the world about what anyone else thought, drinking lemonade, pushing each other in the pool with their floaties on, and then getting tired and falling asleep in the hammock._

"Those were the days," she muttered.

She noticed a bunch of cups left out on a tray in the back yard. She shuffled her feet over to them and picked one up. She didn't even look at what it was; she just drank it down. Liking the taste, she took another, then had a couple more.

Whatever the drink was made her feel better. Maybe she needs sugar, she thinks. She can't even see two feet in front of her. Wobbling around, she grabs a cup that has her name on it. This drink tastes different, she notices. It's bitterer and has a nasty after taste. She can tell, but she doesn't care.

"Tess?"

She hears a soft voice from behind her. Stumbling to turn around, she looks whoever it is over and smiles. "Nate!" Her eyes light up.

"Are you alright?" he asks, worried.

"Heck yeah! I'm the best I've been all night!" She slaps his shoulder in a playful way, but loses her balance and falls into his arms.

"Nate, I'm sleepy," she murmurs with her eyes closed.

He picks her up and takes her inside. By this time, one of the neighbors had called the police. Everyone had scattered, leaving, ready to blame this whole thing on her.

Nate laid her down on her bed, inside her messed up room. Someone had come in and ruined it all, staining her plush white carpet, ripping up her duvet, making a hole in her wall.

Nate shot the room an angry look. Even though the room hadn't done anything, it made him mad to see it like this.

"All of this because she wanted to fit in," he says.

Tess' mind had clouded over. Her body was becoming numb. Light was flashing in and out of her eyes.

"Tess, wake up."

She heard him, but couldn't move. Couldn't even make a gesture to show she was still here.

"Are you drunk?"

She tried to nod. She thought she might be, but her mom had never acted like this when she came home late wobbling with a guy on her arm. She hoped it wasn't more serious.

"Tess, give me some sign that you're okay!"

She wished she could, oh how she would just reach up and squeeze his hand, letting him know she was alright. But she couldn't, and she knew it.

Something definitely wasn't alright. Weren't you supposed to see your life flash before your eyes when you die?

Downstairs, Jason and Shane were talking to the police officers, trying to explain things. The officers noted things down on their pad of paper, then asked where the owner of the house was. They led them upstairs, where they found Nate holding her hand and staring intently at her.

"What happened here?" the policemen asked, rushing to her side.

Jason and Shane stood in doorway with a horrified look on their faces. Sure, they didn't really care for Tess, but that didn't mean they wanted anything to happen to her.

"I don't know, I think she may be drunk, but it appears worse than that!"

"Stop yelling; we'll see what's wrong." They opened her mouth and looked down it, then felt for her pulse.

Nate glared at them. All they were doing was sitting there, doing something to her that wouldn't even help.

Then, suddenly a thought came to him. Something someone had told him earlier.

"_We put some poison and alcohol in Tess's drink. It'll be so funny to watch her make a fool of herself!"_

That was their diabolical plan? He scoffed. There was no way they would poison her drink; it could kill her!

His mouth flew open so fast that it almost ripped his jaw out of place.

"Get her to the hospital; she's gotten poisoned!" he screamed, jumping up.

"Son, calm down," they said.

"What?! No!" he scooped her up in his arms and noticed that she felt cold.

"Put her down."

"I will not! We have to save her!"

"We can't save her..." They looked him straight in the eyes.

"Why not!?" he looked down at her pale face and moved her wet hair out of her eyes.

"Because she's already had it in her for too long. She only has a couple minutes left."

Nate looked at them like they were idiots. "DON'T LIE TO ME! I don't care if you are the police or not!"

"Look, I'm really sorry we couldn't get here in time, and rest assure, those kids won't go unpunished."

"I don't care about them! I just want her to be okay!"

They patted his arm apologetically, then left to go call in an ambulance to take her away in.

"Tess, I know you're alive. Show me. Show them! Show those kids they can't break you!"

_I wish I could..._

He tried to shake her, but all that happened was her head rolled to the other side.

Tears ran down his face and onto her already wet dress.

"Please, for me?"

_I love you, Nate. I wish you could hear me._

"Dammit, Tess! You can't just go without knowing that I love you!"

_I do know it! Just promise not to forget me._

"I'll always remember you for who you were. Wait for me?" he whispered in her ear.

With the one last breath that took all of her strength, she sputtered, "Forever."

The ambulance people ran up to the room, hurriedly taking her out of his arms, and marched back downstairs. As they put her on the stretcher, Nate had to turn away.

He just couldn't believe she went like this; all because of some stupid drunk-ass teenagers that wanted revenge. And at her birthday party too! He shook his head sadly as they put her up in the ambulance, covered completely.

Slowly walking over to it, he leaned up inside it, removed the cover, and glanced down at her. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it warmly. He pushed her hair behind her ear and whispered softly,

"Goodbye, my Sleeping Beauty_."_

_Goodbye, my Prince Charming._


End file.
